Today's Headlines - more at Metro

12/20/2010

Expo Line Phase II Trial, L.A. Labor Pact, Pocket Airports, Transit Riders' Tax Benefits, The Resurgence Of Cities & More

All I Want For Christmas Is 30/10 And The Subway To The Sea
Huffington Post

Bob Hope Airport Raises Parking Fees
Los Angeles Times

California Ports To Test Hydrogen-Powered Trucks
Commercial Carrier Journal

Can Streetcars Save America's Cities? (Streetcars are increasingly seen as boons to local economies. And with a $130 million federal fund aimed at streetcar projects, some are expecting more systems to develop. Others, though, still question the investment)
CNN

DesertXpress Top Executive Retires From High-Speed Rail Project
Las Vegas Sun

Do Anti-710 Freeway Advocates Have A Friend In Jerry Brown?: Activists Are Hoping The Governor-Elect Can Kill 710 Extension Once And For All
Eagle Rock Patch

Everyone To Norwalk: Expo Line Phase II Trial Starts Next Week
Curbed LA

Gas-Powered Carriage Didn't Have Much Speed To Burn: Created By J. Philip Erie And S.D. Sturgis, The Vehicle Made It's L.A. Debut At 2 A.M. On May 30, 1897. The Innocent-Looking Black Tally-Ho' Never Reached The 25 MPH "Concealed In Its Vitals"
Los Angeles Times

House Celebrates Norman Mineta, Ignores His Ideas
StreetsBlog DC

Houston Metro Cancels Controversial Contract With Spanish Rail Car Company
Transportation Nation

Is America's Aging Infrastructure A Recipe For Disaster?
Infrastructurist

Labor Pact To Require Residents Be Hired: Officials Say Program Will Create More Jobs Within City ("Villaraigosa said he hoped the city agreement would serve as a model for contracts issued by Los Angeles County and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.")
Los Angeles Daily News

Metro Decisions: Good Politics, Not Good Transportation
CityWatch

More Southland Residents Hitting The Road This Holiday
Los Angeles Daily News

New Census Numbers Confirm The Resurgence Of Cities
Sustainable Cities Collective

Opinion: The Postman Always Pings Twice
("The service’s thousands of delivery vehicles have only one purpose now: to transport mail. But what if they were fitted with sensors to collect and transmit information about weather or air pollutants? The trucks would go from being bulky tools of industrial-age communication to being on the cutting edge of 21st-century information-gathering and forecasting.")
New York Times

Planning Commission Leadership Strengthens Bike Plan
StreetsBlog LA

"Pocket Airports" Would Link Neighborhoods By Air
Gizmodo

Readers' Forum: People Must Be Made To Understand High-Speed Rail Strategy
Contra Costa Times

Streetcar Projects Advance Nationwide Thanks To Local Initiative
Transport Politic

To Ensure Continued Funding, Limited Expectations On Federal Transportation Reform
Transport Politic

Transit Riders Keep Same Tax Benefits As Drivers
StreetsBlog DC

The Trolley Took Us There (Historic images from the Metro Library's Archive are discussed, including the W car coming down Figueroa at York Blvd heading towards Downtown Los Angeles in 1948)
Highland Park 90042

U.S. Planning Isolationism ("There are indeed troubling signs about the manner and extent to which US planning academics and US planners more broadly engage our colleagues elsewhere in the world.")
Planetizen